![The New York Issue](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/couricbts_a.jpg?w=2000&h=1126&crop=1)
Katie Couric was photographed April 5 by Mann in Central Park. Nervous that distracting crowds would gather, he found "working with Katie was so easy because she's so comfortable relating to folks."
Rebecca KaramehmedovicIn Hollywood, the pecking order seems to go: movies, then television, then everything else. In New York City, the hierarchy is money first, then media, then … uh, what else is there? The truth is, these alpha industries all are intertwined. (Not to mention, both cities are obsessed with real estate and restaurants.) L.A.-based film studios find themselves calling NYC-based corporate heads “boss” at Time Warner, News Corp. and Viacom. And New York media players curry favor to book Hollywood talent, and honestly, sometimes just to be around them so they can name-drop later — it’s all one merry-go-round of news and entertainment. To that end, we devoted this, our second annual New York issue, to the East Coast side of this industry. You’ll find an interview with the bicoastal Leslie Moonves, CBS’ president and CEO, whose offices in L.A. and NYC are decorated with identical photos; a look at the differing social-business mores in each city (tip: don’t eat dinner before 8:30 p.m. in NYC, and please, don’t light up a joint at a work party). And you’ll find a revealing interview with Matt Lauer, by writer Marisa Guthrie. We hope you enjoy our Big Apple tour of New York — all without having to board a plane.
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Janice Min
Editorial Director
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IN THIS ISSUE
Wesley Mann: For this issue, Mann shot Leslie Moonves, Katie Couric and Sean Hannity, who threw around a football in his office with artist Jon McNaughton, almost damaging his $300,000 painting of President Obama burning the Constitution. As incendiary as his art choices may be, Hannity, says Mann, is “super-nice. It was amazing to watch him work. He’s sharp.” The same could be said for the 28-year-old New Yorker who has shot previous THR covers of Ted Turner and Martin Scorsese (not to mention portraits for Time and GQ) and has just been made contributing photographer at The Hollywood Reporter. Says Mann, “It’s a thrill for me to be able to collaborate with so many legendary people.”
Marisa Guthrie: Senior writer Guthrie edited the Power List and wrote the cover profile on Matt Lauer. “He was always gracious,” recalls the Boston transplant, who moved to the Big Apple in 2003 to work at The New York Daily News. “Even the morning after his contract was signed, and I asked — while he was in the middle of the 7:30 a.m. on-air block — if I could make just one more trip to Studio 1A,” where Today is filmed.
Eriq Gardner: Gardner has been a THR contributing editor since 2007, helping turn the website’s Hollywood, Esq. blog into an award-winning resource. This month, he’s been promoted to senior editor, and in this issue Gardner looks at how legal skills turned the Three Stooges franchise into a booming brand. “There are days I worry there won’t be any great legal disputes to write about,” he says. “Then I remember which industry I’m covering.”
David Rooney: “April is a challenging month,” says THR‘s New York-based film and theater critic, who wrote about Evita‘s Broadway revival, while juggling Broadway openings, Tribeca Film Festival reviews and preparations for Cannes in May. “But in the past two weeks, I got to write about Snow White, Magic Johnson, Eva Peron, Jesus Christ and schoolyard bullies. There’s got to be a narrative throughline in there somewhere.”
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